Initial reactions to GOS reading: I think that schools need to change, but how is that possible? How can we reconstruct an entire system into something that caters to individual students needs and helps kids become deep learners? Maybe if we did away with standardized testing. I really hate that stuff. It is so asinine to base a student's intelligence off of a score. It's such crap. I guess if I had done better on standardized tests I wouldn't be saying this. I was thinking while reading this, "Have any of my teachers ever asked me if I was interested in what I was learning?" well, that's not really what I mean. What do I mean? I guess I'm just trying to see which of my teachers was not playing the game. I know Miss Conrad, my fabulous A.P. English teacher was working magic, because I never wanted to leave class, ever. I cried on the last day. I would take that class every year if I could. It was so much fun to analyze things with my classmates, to hear their opinions about things, to make jokes. And most everyone came prepared to class, so that made it even better. When someone didn't it was obvious, and I would think, why? Why would you not do the reading? I know their are extenuating circumstances and two sides to every story, but I would have felt crappy if I couldn't contribute to the class discussion, or be in the loop of what people were talking about. That is why I always do my work. I want to be an active member of my classes, and if you don't do the work, you can't be. I don't necessarily think that's playing the game. I guess I want credit for the work I do, but I don't like to think I do it for the grade. I'm not just doing it to get by. I can't call myself a saint though. There have been classes that I plugged and chugged my way to a pass. That was mostly because I didn't understand the material and was too scared to ask for help, or thought it would be too much effort to actually figure things out. Like if I asked my teachers for help I was 1) stupid, and 2) they might not be able to help me understand, and then where would I be? All of these thoughts are probably not uncommon. I don't know if I agree with the whole "Some kids don't participate because it's not cool" thing. Who would do that? Who cares what other people think? I know we all do. But does that really dictate whether or not you ask a question, or voice your opinion? It must for some people. That is really sad. Really sad. I think the idea of looking at student's individually is really rad. It actually makes me excited. Even those kids who get bad grades, or don't come to school, and act out, deep down, they have the ability and desire to learn. If only a teacher could take special interest in them, ask them what they want to learn and help them learn it. Like we read in that excerpt What The Best College Students Do, if you have something that really interests you, then you will be successful. If you find that one thing and focus on it, you have something. Maybe that would inspire kids to want to come to school and learn more things. That would be something to see. I know a lot of students think that nobody cares, and it's all a joke. And the way some people behave, it is. It's all just the game. But it doesn't have to be like that. You can really learn things if you want to.
What has to be done? What is the next step? That is so often my question. But the answer is never that simple. I don't know how to fix the game problem. It would probably involve some big overhaul of the system, which would cost time and money, which nobody ever wants. It's not a quick fix. How can it be done?
KianaAnderson
Every point this chapter arugues is true – we do play the game of school. I can't say that the teachers do for sure, but absolutely the students play along, just trying to get by, get good grades, and get out. Even if the students love school and love to learn, it is rare that a young student is willing to go above and beyond because, why should they? I know that I was one of those kids in the reading group who would jot down stupid questions just to get it done with. At a young age, children don't see any harm in it, they don't even know that they are playing the game. They don't see the potential damage of doing the minimum of what they are asked of because the teacher isn't going to be able to force a deeper thought out of the children and they will probably get a good grade regardless, which is what they think is all that really matters. Kids are playing the game of school because they don't see the bigger picture, instead they only see what is right in front of them.
After all, school is a routine thing. You wake up every morning, grab your backpack and your lunch box, hop on the bus, go through your classes, and go home. The routine environment is a perfect breeding ground for routine questions, answers, and lack of creativity, which results in mediocre work ethic and lack of inspiring learning.
SaraBuckley
I can confirm that this "Game of School" is extremely problematic in our education system. Especially coming from a student's perspective, I primarily just showed up, participated, and did the work to get by when I was in middle and high school. If I was truly passionate about one teacher or subject (which was unfortunately rare), then I would put extra effort into studying and my homework. But why would I only do this for particular classes? Sure, students favor certain classes, but I would literally spend hours on assignments for one class and barely ten minutes on others. Why can't we be this enthusiastic about all our classes? It is my goal as a future elementary school teacher to positively introduce all subjects to my students. I will teach them not to play this passive "game". I hope they will not just simply go through the motions and actually learn!
JuliaCohen
Whether or not we choose to believe it, there is a game being played in school systems across the nation. We focus less on how a student is learning and instead point the focus on what can make the education system look better. We focus less on how students can actually thrive and more on how our schools can stay in budget. Today we live in a world where the bare minimum is enough. Rarely do we find administration that actually care about the well-being of a student or the knowledge that they're gaining. Children are smart and crafty. They've been living in a world with the same game for far too long, and as a result, they have found a way to cheat the system.
Children today do the bare minimum, and so do the teachers. Teachers may say "read chapters 1-3 and write down the answers to these questions" but all the kids choose to do is write down the answers by skimming pages or by looking it up online. In my opinion, There is no longer any "fun" in school.
There is no place for a child to expand their mind, no place to be creative, to thrive outside of the books. There are some kids who actually do the assigned homework correctly, read FULLY, but the truth is that there is nothing that the teachers really can do. The kids are smart enough to cheat the system and cheat it well, so well that you can't tell the difference between the cheaters and the ones who are actually doing the full work.
More or less, we all cheat the system. The A students, the F students, the teachers and everyone in between. The A students say exactly what the teacher wants to hear, and the teachers can only accept one type of answer, completely closed for interpretation. The A students know this game well. They know which information to pick out of a reading, what parts to study. Each person in the school community plays a role in this game, whether they know it or not.
There are no grades based on creativity, but instead grades for obedience, and following deadlines. The concepts a child learns in school are more or less to see how much a child can memorize, a less to help the student grow and enhance their mind and succeed in the real world.
MeaganCoon
Students play a very important role in the game of school. It is in part the students who are uncooperative and disruptive that inhibit learning, but they are definitely not the whole problem. I can relate to the entire chapter. That in high school learning was much more about going through the motions than actually acquiring information. Very little of the information and curriculum that was covered in my high school classes I retained. We were taught from an early age that work had to be done just to be done. It was not about learning the information it was about getting a good grade. It was important to make sure we met the deadlines and requirements for assignments but no more than the bare minimum. If we could pass o the bare minimum than why work harder than we have to? I can admit to not raising my hand in class because I know someone else will have the answer. I would do anything to "avoid extra work and conflict". School to me was about getting through the day and going home, not about actually learning. I definitely could have applied more time and effort into learning and acquiring the information. School would probably have been more enjoyable if I had applied myself the same way I did to other things like sports. I know in my classes no one wanted to be seen as the "teachers pet" or the one who tried too hard. I can also remember making remarks to other students about how someone was "nerdy" or cared too much about school work because it did not matter. In reality those were the students who were probably actually getting something out of their lessons.
This article has definitely opened my eyes to the " game of school". I do not want to play this game at my time at URI. I want to get a lot more out of classes and lectures than just the bare minimum. I want to be passionate about what I am learning and apply that to my job someday. I do not intend to do college the same way I got through high school. I do not want college to be a game the way high school was and I hope that the majority of my professors see it this way as well.
AllisonCorey
Students play a role in the quality of their education. But in my opinion, I feel as if the teachers and administrators have an even bigger role. For example when I was in high school, the administrators were very focused on keep the school under their control as oppose to focusing on learning. They were so concerned with being the authoritative role that the learning aspect of school got pushed under the rug. The deans and principal were consumed with keeping the school in "order"; things that really didn't matter that much in my opinion to education. For example, students would get in so much trouble for walking the halls without a pass, if they weren't in the correct dress code, or had snacks or coffee in the hallways and not in the cafeteria. They would focus all of their time and energy on making the school look perfect. In reality, they should have been looking into more of the teachers and students teaching and learning. As a result, the students were worried about getting in trouble for some house-keeping thing like wearing shorts that were too short or having a Dunkin coffee. The students should really be concerned with what they are learning instead. This definitely took away from the fact of the learning and the passion for learning or teaching for that matter in my school.
After reading this article, it made me understand the game of schooling. I was definitely a part of that game in high school. I would befriend my teachers, do whatever they said, and as a result would pass my classes being in the honor roll. Teachers gave out points for everything like participating or attending so that it looked like their students were all succeeding making them a successful teacher. Even now in college there is absolutely a game. I haven't noticed it as much in college as I did in high school but there is still some prevalence. Again, teachers give out points for house-keeping things like passing in homework and only having a few absences. Also, I have played the game of going to my teachers' office hours. Even if I am struggling in that particular class, I've learned that attending office hours can go a long way for getting the grade that you want although it may not be the grade you deserve.
I can also relate this to the article that we read in class at the beginning of the month about strategic versus deep learners. The game of school is absolutely based on strategic learners. They have learned the strategy to just get by in school and to get what they want for grades. Deep learners on the other hand have that passion for learning, that desire to learn about a variety of subjects and just getting good grades is a positive side result. To end the game of school and learning I think that students have to transform into more deep learners to get the most out of the quality of their education. Then as a result I think that the teachers and administration will hopefully come around and find that passion too for teaching their students.
BayleeDiMarco
The Game of School is played when “nobody cares what’s going on intellectually in the classroom” (93), when kids participate only enough to get through the class. Students care only about their grades and not about learning or understanding the material. The Game of School is played by nearly everyone, both teachers and students. Personally, I have definitely been a player of this game. There have been classes where I am only willing to do the minimum to please my teachers and achieve my desired letter grade. I also know for a fact that I was not the only one, nor the biggest offender. Once one begins the game, it is a major struggle to stop. Through many classes I have thought to myself, what is the point of learning this stuff? How could doing this work possibly benefit me? Why did my teacher even assign this to me? Assignments that pose questions like these are the ones where I was a culprit of playing the Game of School. I realize now that most things are assigned for a reason, that just getting through those classes actually did hurt me academically. It is much more beneficial to engage in authentic learning. As a future teacher, I it my hope to change students’ outlook on assignments. I wish to make my class interesting so that my students really do want to learn the material. But for the most part, students are completely in control of their own academic success. If you master the Game of School and do your work just to get through a class, then you are lowering the quality of your own education. This is because by doing this, you are not allowing yourself the full opportunity to engage in deep learning.
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SamanthaKaiser
I play the game of school. It's not to say that I am constantly playing this game, it's just that I have played this game, I do play this game, and I absolutely will play this game. There are many reasons for this. In my past, I have faced many assignments and courses that I've either felt very interested and passionate about and oppositely, hated and couldn't care less about. The work that I've done passionately happens in the moments that I step out of the game of school. I remember specifically in high school a history day project about 1930s flappers. I was so intrigued by the topic that I actually did the research, I actually wrote my paper with haste and interest and I did extremely well. When do students step out of the game of school? I can say that personally, I absolutely always step out of the game of school when something interests me, when I feel that its more than busy work, or when I believe that it will enhance my life or my future. If I think something will come in handy, I will absolutely stop and say, "hey, slow your roll, pay attention, enjoy, and remember". In college, some of the best classes that I have taken have brought me out of the game of school. In all of my honors classes and in my small chemistry class, I felt as if my opinion and work mattered. Other students pay attention to you and it feels good to actually give a care about what's going on. On the other hand, college has offered me some intense school gaming. I've noticed this in my huge lecture classes. There's this feeling of disconnect with the class, almost like its happening and not happening simultaneously. I go through the motions, do the work as quickly as possible, and move on to the things that are important to me. I don't have time to care about certain topics when they don't pertain to my future and they hardly create a challenge that require me to step out of the game. If all of my classes were taught with passion and variety and most importantly, connection to my life and future, I would step out of the game of school completely. But with hectic schedules and areas of interest that pull me in intensely, why would I waste my precious time with work I do not care for?
VictoriaKern
The Game of School was most definitely prominent in the high school I attended. While reading Fried’s chapter, I identified with the feeling of being tricked to do homework in school. I played the game of school because the teachers were always trying to get us to do assignments we didn’t want to do. If the assignment seemed like it was rote memorization or busy-work, I would spend as little time as possible on it. Also, I don’t know how I was supposed to be a deep learner when I had hours upon hours of homework to do even when I wasn’t deep learning. If it takes up all of my time to memorize or speed through material, how would I possibly be able to understand, apply, or create knowledge after four hours of volleyball every day. There are just too many things to do in high school, including family and friends time.
I feel the same way in college, just a little less. I feel like there isn’t enough time to do the things that bring me meaning because I’m always trying to catch up with readings and mandatory writing assignments. That’s why I signed up for independent studies, internships, and EDC 102H this semester, because I was tired of playing the game of school. I was tired of coming to class and learning what someone else thought I should learn without being able to influence or take ownership of my learning. I was tired of feeling uninspired and overworked. I was tired of feeling like I was going to do four years of hard work in the classroom and then not know how to think on my own or apply my knowledge to a career once I graduated.
I would love to one-day provide a space for young people to find the passion within themselves to learn. I want to enlighten youth and help them see that their possibilities are endless once they realize their self-worth. I appreciated the examples that Fried had about how deep learning could be encouraged, and I would love to learn of more ways to do this.
IleanaLaGrutta
Ileana LaGrutta
September 22, 2014
The Game of Schools
EDC 102H
I could go on and on about the game of school and how it is ever-present today. It is hard to walk through high school and not see the game being played. Homework in high school merely consisted of "reading" a textbook chapter and answering questions 1-5 that follow. The reason that I put "reading" in quotations is because few students actually read the chapter. Instead, they will glance at the questions and then go find the answer, which is usually presented exactly how the question is worded, within the text. The worst part is, questions one through five would usually be on vocabulary words or little facts that do not help students fully comprehend the material while question six was usually the "critical thinking" question that was rarely ever assigned. Why wasn't it assigned? Well that is a question that helps coney that teachers play the game, as well.
A lot of teachers now-a-days simply teach to get by just like the students learn the bare minimum in order to get by. These teachers do not assign the "critical thinking" questions because it will take too long to grade. Along with that, they are also planning their lessons (which usually consist of Power Point Presentations that the teacher will directly read off of the screen as students vigorously copy the notes before the slide is changed), and trying to get their grades in on time. Oh and when the students get their report card, it is usually filled with the same generic comments year after year like, "A pleasure to have in class," or "Distracting to others around them." There are hundreds of different fixed phrases in the databases for report cards, but instead of giving substantial feedback, teachers will usually click the easiest one in order to get that report card finished and move on to the next report card.
The game of school is clearly played all throughout high school. However, it is important to explore whether it is played in college as well. Furthermore, after about a month of classes, I personally believe that it is still played to an extent. In certain classes, students are assigned an extremely long textbook chapter to read. While reading the chapter they may take notes, however, it is definitely questionable about how in depth those notes are. Are these students simply reading the chapter and jotting down important bolded or italicized items, or are they reading the chapter and making connections on a deeper level? That being said, it is the courses like this education course that incorporates a lot of writing and contemplation that help break students away from the game of school.
The game of school is extremely prevalent in high schools all around the country. Whether it is students quickly skimming a chapter for information to answer an extremely shallow and factual question, or teachers simply breezing through lessons with no class engagement whatsoever, it absolutely needs to change. College, although it still occurs, is the place where it truly can change. College is the place where the rest of our lives begin; a life where just getting by should not be the main concern.
RebeccaLelli
Rebecca Lelli
American Education
21 September 2014
The Game of School is very familiar to me, it seems that most people play it. Its all just doing what you need to in order to get by, with no concern as to whether or not you actually retain the knowledge. However, I had no idea that students as young as first graders already had everything figured out. I feel that most of the reason that kids and teachers play "the Game of School" is due to a lack of time. The teachers have so many students and so little time to plan that they do their best just to stick to what is absolutely necessary to learn for the test (this is also known as teaching to the test). Students play because of the large amount of work they are given that they have to fit in their packed schedule of extra-curriculars and still have time to socialize and sleep. I'm sure if things moved at a little slower and in more detail the students may actually be enthusiastic about learning. Beyond that, removing the stress of testing may help kids to devote time and energy to learning.
SamanthaLindquist
The Game of School
The Game of School is a big thing because it shows exactly how most people act in a school setting and with their homework. There is a lot to this idea, mostly it has to be that the students and the teachers don’t seem to care as much as they should, they pretend to care on both sides. There are many key indicators to this idea, one being teachers to talk down to other teachers if they are been looked upon as worse than the other teacher. They tend to shun one another if someone is doing better than the others. Another indicator is that fact that the children don’t seem to care and it’s kind of obvious, if they are on their phones in call, if they sleep, if they aren’t taking notes, if they just disrespect the teacher.
In my experience with school the Game of School played a role but not as much for me because I enjoyed the learning in school unless the teacher was bad. I have been guilty of not paying attention to certain teachers if I didn’t like them, but I even did it in my favorite teacher’s classes if I was tired or just didn’t want to do anything. Unfortunately all students have done things like that no matter if you are failing or are the valedictorian.
At college I know the Game of School is still going to happen to some extent because everyone is going to be tired at some point or not want to pay attention. Even though its college, it doesn’t mean you are going to enjoy all of your teachers or their classes even if you want to.
The Game of School is a huge influence on schools and students all the time. I think it will always be there because there are always going to be days where you don’t want to do anything for whatever the reason. I think it would be a hindrance to the idea of making schools better because it’s going to always be there and you really can’t fix it unless you make every teacher and every student have something they would be willing to teach or study for, not a test but something good.
MelanieMertens
The Game of School is constantly being played across the United States. How many classrooms could you walk into and see a teacher presenting information and the students pretending to listen, secretly doodling in their notebooks. Some students follow along, but daze off because they do not understand or already know the information they are being given and have lost interest. I know this was the case with many of my high school classes. We would do the readings at home only to discuss an entirely different topic in class, it was as though the teacher felt it was their duty to assign us busy work to do just so he or she could say they gave homework. Eventually we would all learn the ways around the readings, for novels this meant reading "spark notes" each night in case a pop quiz ever came up. Due to this approach in high school, I feel as though I am at a setback here at college. Since I started college here at URI, I have had many nights when I simply sit in my room and try to read what I need to for my classes the next day. For me this never ends well because even since elementary school, I was playing the Game of School and only doing the bare minimum of work. Now I'm realizing what a big impact all those years of "games" has had on me because I don't have the learning capacity to sit at my desk and read for three hours straight without fidgeting, checking my phone, or getting up to do something else. I am hoping that with my time here at URI, I may be able to overcome my learning struggle onset by my educational past. It is not that I didn't do well in school, because I did, but it is the fact that I did what I needed to get by without actually retaining any of the information. I have found that in college, it is a much different case, the professors here really want to engage us, they don't want to trick us into thinking we've learned something we have not. Hopefully, the learning environment here, at URI, will help me to improve my learning abilities so I may achieve my highest potential. Like me, many other students, have probably hit a brick wall of work as they entered college, but we can change that for future generations. The Game of School is constantly affecting students across the country and that is something that should be addressed. Many administrators will say their school has improved over the years, but they are looking at the external picture, if the administrators tended to the students in their schools and watched how they were learning they may be able to help. The Game of School is something that has affected me and many others, but hopefully, in years to come we will see a cease to these "games."
MadelineMucci
I found this chapter extremely interesting. It's very similar to the idea that most students are surface learners, but it puts a name to that game that we all play just to get by. I think because we are taught at such a young age that good grades are key, it's very easy to forget that learning is even really an aspect of school. And since getting good grades is much easier than learning (something that really should be switched), it just becomes a quick and easy aspect of every student's day. A huge reason I think children learn at such a young age how easy it is to sneak their way through school is because most assignments that teachers give to students don't really require much learning or thought; they just require basic comprehension of the task at hand and how to complete it.
I've always known that a large amount of slacking done in schools is also by teachers, but seeing this just confirmed my ideas and gives me a ton of motivation for my own time learning here at URI and for becoming a teacher later on. I ended my time being a player of the school game my senior year, and I didn't really start it until I was a sophomore, so I wasn't bad for too long. But now I realize that not only do I need to crack down on myself as a student, but as a teacher. While in the beginning of every school year it was nice to hear that a teacher would be easygoing and lazy, by the end of the year, I always hated him/her for wasting my time and energy and not giving me anything in return. I know now that if I want to make my life about educating others, I'm going to do it right.
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AdamSokolowski
Although students are influenced by their family and teachers, the largest influence that affects their education is the energy of their environment they are in and the amount of excitement the peers around are portraying. In most of my high school classes I can remember doing the same thing day in and day out which was doing my school and homework with my friends to the point which it was an acceptable A. There were classes where we went through the schedule of work and handed in work to be graded and take quizzes based on skills we learned in class. this kind of monotonous work is the game of school where both students and teachers go through the motions of the system. this was not the case for all classes, for example with my knowledge of the different kinds of learning I can definitely say that classes like my AP chemistry class where the teacher posted educational videos on how to do problems n a wiki page and we all contributed everyday due to the upbeat and exiting environment the teacher presented the class in.
I know I went through motions of work in high school and with the knowledge of knowing that it was only surface learning and I wasn't getting anything out of it. I also know I used the same strategies in some classes in college such as in calculus. This game is being played in most schools and to eliminate it will be a challenge for schools across America. classes need to be taught in a way that kids to think for themselves and contribute to activities in class that encourages kids to ask questions and not simply observe how something is done and mimic it.
AmandaWard
What are the key indicators that the Game of School is being played?
How did the GOS influence your own view of school and learning in high school?
How are these views affecting your approach to being a student at URI?
What role do you think the GOS play in efforts to improve schools?
Some indicators that the Game of School is being played are that students collaborate in doing homework and rarely do it themselves, teachers spend more time on homework and quizzes than on the basis of learning, and teachers pretend they don't know students share their work unless its very obvious. The GOS had a large influence on my learning in high school. I collaborated with other students on numerous assignments, especially ones that were lengthy or had to do with math. I viewed homework as not a way of learning but as a time consuming obstacle. Most work I did to get a good grade, but only grasped some of the material that the work consisted of. The Game of School made me a surface learner, only doing work to pass and not grasping the material being taught. Being a student at URI is much different than the level of learning done in high school. I have done more work here than my entire junior and senior year. I cannot simply get As on homework and then get Cs on tests if I want to maintain my GPA here. I think the GOS should be an example of how to change the school system for the better. It shows how we need to focus more on in class learning and less on homework.
EmmaZingg
The Game of School inspired me to not only want to be a teacher but a REAL teacher. I always noticed that some of my classes in high school were by far more interesting than others, but never could I put a finger on why this was. Some teachers take the time to learn about their students in order to gain that respect from their students and show them that they care. I believe there is a careful balance between assigning too little homework, and too much homework. Both having too little and too much homework results in students either thinking the class is unimportant or rushing through it to get it done. Students don't consciensly "play the game" but it a result of treatment and the respect provided towards them by their peers, administration, and their educators. It made me think about ways to be a good teacher, and realize that much of the "learning" done in school is not true learning; it isn't necessarily always about the grade that the student receives but rather the knowledge gained. Perhaps you may not receive a 100 on test but you may have not had any knowledge of the topic previously so considering you had gained understanding. Nowadays it is our tendency to complete things and move on and not necessary actually absorb the information- It is my job to change this in the future!
Initial reactions to GOS reading: I think that schools need to change, but how is that possible? How can we reconstruct an entire system into something that caters to individual students needs and helps kids become deep learners? Maybe if we did away with standardized testing. I really hate that stuff. It is so asinine to base a student's intelligence off of a score. It's such crap. I guess if I had done better on standardized tests I wouldn't be saying this. I was thinking while reading this, "Have any of my teachers ever asked me if I was interested in what I was learning?" well, that's not really what I mean. What do I mean? I guess I'm just trying to see which of my teachers was not playing the game. I know Miss Conrad, my fabulous A.P. English teacher was working magic, because I never wanted to leave class, ever. I cried on the last day. I would take that class every year if I could. It was so much fun to analyze things with my classmates, to hear their opinions about things, to make jokes. And most everyone came prepared to class, so that made it even better. When someone didn't it was obvious, and I would think, why? Why would you not do the reading? I know their are extenuating circumstances and two sides to every story, but I would have felt crappy if I couldn't contribute to the class discussion, or be in the loop of what people were talking about. That is why I always do my work. I want to be an active member of my classes, and if you don't do the work, you can't be. I don't necessarily think that's playing the game. I guess I want credit for the work I do, but I don't like to think I do it for the grade. I'm not just doing it to get by. I can't call myself a saint though. There have been classes that I plugged and chugged my way to a pass. That was mostly because I didn't understand the material and was too scared to ask for help, or thought it would be too much effort to actually figure things out. Like if I asked my teachers for help I was 1) stupid, and 2) they might not be able to help me understand, and then where would I be? All of these thoughts are probably not uncommon. I don't know if I agree with the whole "Some kids don't participate because it's not cool" thing. Who would do that? Who cares what other people think? I know we all do. But does that really dictate whether or not you ask a question, or voice your opinion? It must for some people. That is really sad. Really sad. I think the idea of looking at student's individually is really rad. It actually makes me excited. Even those kids who get bad grades, or don't come to school, and act out, deep down, they have the ability and desire to learn. If only a teacher could take special interest in them, ask them what they want to learn and help them learn it. Like we read in that excerpt What The Best College Students Do, if you have something that really interests you, then you will be successful. If you find that one thing and focus on it, you have something. Maybe that would inspire kids to want to come to school and learn more things. That would be something to see. I know a lot of students think that nobody cares, and it's all a joke. And the way some people behave, it is. It's all just the game. But it doesn't have to be like that. You can really learn things if you want to.
What has to be done? What is the next step? That is so often my question. But the answer is never that simple. I don't know how to fix the game problem. It would probably involve some big overhaul of the system, which would cost time and money, which nobody ever wants. It's not a quick fix. How can it be done?
After all, school is a routine thing. You wake up every morning, grab your backpack and your lunch box, hop on the bus, go through your classes, and go home. The routine environment is a perfect breeding ground for routine questions, answers, and lack of creativity, which results in mediocre work ethic and lack of inspiring learning.
Children today do the bare minimum, and so do the teachers. Teachers may say "read chapters 1-3 and write down the answers to these questions" but all the kids choose to do is write down the answers by skimming pages or by looking it up online. In my opinion, There is no longer any "fun" in school.
There is no place for a child to expand their mind, no place to be creative, to thrive outside of the books. There are some kids who actually do the assigned homework correctly, read FULLY, but the truth is that there is nothing that the teachers really can do. The kids are smart enough to cheat the system and cheat it well, so well that you can't tell the difference between the cheaters and the ones who are actually doing the full work.
More or less, we all cheat the system. The A students, the F students, the teachers and everyone in between. The A students say exactly what the teacher wants to hear, and the teachers can only accept one type of answer, completely closed for interpretation. The A students know this game well. They know which information to pick out of a reading, what parts to study. Each person in the school community plays a role in this game, whether they know it or not.
There are no grades based on creativity, but instead grades for obedience, and following deadlines. The concepts a child learns in school are more or less to see how much a child can memorize, a less to help the student grow and enhance their mind and succeed in the real world.
This article has definitely opened my eyes to the " game of school". I do not want to play this game at my time at URI. I want to get a lot more out of classes and lectures than just the bare minimum. I want to be passionate about what I am learning and apply that to my job someday. I do not intend to do college the same way I got through high school. I do not want college to be a game the way high school was and I hope that the majority of my professors see it this way as well.
After reading this article, it made me understand the game of schooling. I was definitely a part of that game in high school. I would befriend my teachers, do whatever they said, and as a result would pass my classes being in the honor roll. Teachers gave out points for everything like participating or attending so that it looked like their students were all succeeding making them a successful teacher. Even now in college there is absolutely a game. I haven't noticed it as much in college as I did in high school but there is still some prevalence. Again, teachers give out points for house-keeping things like passing in homework and only having a few absences. Also, I have played the game of going to my teachers' office hours. Even if I am struggling in that particular class, I've learned that attending office hours can go a long way for getting the grade that you want although it may not be the grade you deserve.
I can also relate this to the article that we read in class at the beginning of the month about strategic versus deep learners. The game of school is absolutely based on strategic learners. They have learned the strategy to just get by in school and to get what they want for grades. Deep learners on the other hand have that passion for learning, that desire to learn about a variety of subjects and just getting good grades is a positive side result. To end the game of school and learning I think that students have to transform into more deep learners to get the most out of the quality of their education. Then as a result I think that the teachers and administration will hopefully come around and find that passion too for teaching their students.
I feel the same way in college, just a little less. I feel like there isn’t enough time to do the things that bring me meaning because I’m always trying to catch up with readings and mandatory writing assignments. That’s why I signed up for independent studies, internships, and EDC 102H this semester, because I was tired of playing the game of school. I was tired of coming to class and learning what someone else thought I should learn without being able to influence or take ownership of my learning. I was tired of feeling uninspired and overworked. I was tired of feeling like I was going to do four years of hard work in the classroom and then not know how to think on my own or apply my knowledge to a career once I graduated.
I would love to one-day provide a space for young people to find the passion within themselves to learn. I want to enlighten youth and help them see that their possibilities are endless once they realize their self-worth. I appreciated the examples that Fried had about how deep learning could be encouraged, and I would love to learn of more ways to do this.
September 22, 2014
The Game of Schools
EDC 102H
I could go on and on about the game of school and how it is ever-present today. It is hard to walk through high school and not see the game being played. Homework in high school merely consisted of "reading" a textbook chapter and answering questions 1-5 that follow. The reason that I put "reading" in quotations is because few students actually read the chapter. Instead, they will glance at the questions and then go find the answer, which is usually presented exactly how the question is worded, within the text. The worst part is, questions one through five would usually be on vocabulary words or little facts that do not help students fully comprehend the material while question six was usually the "critical thinking" question that was rarely ever assigned. Why wasn't it assigned? Well that is a question that helps coney that teachers play the game, as well.
A lot of teachers now-a-days simply teach to get by just like the students learn the bare minimum in order to get by. These teachers do not assign the "critical thinking" questions because it will take too long to grade. Along with that, they are also planning their lessons (which usually consist of Power Point Presentations that the teacher will directly read off of the screen as students vigorously copy the notes before the slide is changed), and trying to get their grades in on time. Oh and when the students get their report card, it is usually filled with the same generic comments year after year like, "A pleasure to have in class," or "Distracting to others around them." There are hundreds of different fixed phrases in the databases for report cards, but instead of giving substantial feedback, teachers will usually click the easiest one in order to get that report card finished and move on to the next report card.
The game of school is clearly played all throughout high school. However, it is important to explore whether it is played in college as well. Furthermore, after about a month of classes, I personally believe that it is still played to an extent. In certain classes, students are assigned an extremely long textbook chapter to read. While reading the chapter they may take notes, however, it is definitely questionable about how in depth those notes are. Are these students simply reading the chapter and jotting down important bolded or italicized items, or are they reading the chapter and making connections on a deeper level? That being said, it is the courses like this education course that incorporates a lot of writing and contemplation that help break students away from the game of school.
The game of school is extremely prevalent in high schools all around the country. Whether it is students quickly skimming a chapter for information to answer an extremely shallow and factual question, or teachers simply breezing through lessons with no class engagement whatsoever, it absolutely needs to change. College, although it still occurs, is the place where it truly can change. College is the place where the rest of our lives begin; a life where just getting by should not be the main concern.
American Education
21 September 2014
The Game of School is very familiar to me, it seems that most people play it. Its all just doing what you need to in order to get by, with no concern as to whether or not you actually retain the knowledge. However, I had no idea that students as young as first graders already had everything figured out. I feel that most of the reason that kids and teachers play "the Game of School" is due to a lack of time. The teachers have so many students and so little time to plan that they do their best just to stick to what is absolutely necessary to learn for the test (this is also known as teaching to the test). Students play because of the large amount of work they are given that they have to fit in their packed schedule of extra-curriculars and still have time to socialize and sleep. I'm sure if things moved at a little slower and in more detail the students may actually be enthusiastic about learning. Beyond that, removing the stress of testing may help kids to devote time and energy to learning.
The Game of School is a big thing because it shows exactly how most people act in a school setting and with their homework. There is a lot to this idea, mostly it has to be that the students and the teachers don’t seem to care as much as they should, they pretend to care on both sides. There are many key indicators to this idea, one being teachers to talk down to other teachers if they are been looked upon as worse than the other teacher. They tend to shun one another if someone is doing better than the others. Another indicator is that fact that the children don’t seem to care and it’s kind of obvious, if they are on their phones in call, if they sleep, if they aren’t taking notes, if they just disrespect the teacher.
In my experience with school the Game of School played a role but not as much for me because I enjoyed the learning in school unless the teacher was bad. I have been guilty of not paying attention to certain teachers if I didn’t like them, but I even did it in my favorite teacher’s classes if I was tired or just didn’t want to do anything. Unfortunately all students have done things like that no matter if you are failing or are the valedictorian.
At college I know the Game of School is still going to happen to some extent because everyone is going to be tired at some point or not want to pay attention. Even though its college, it doesn’t mean you are going to enjoy all of your teachers or their classes even if you want to.
The Game of School is a huge influence on schools and students all the time. I think it will always be there because there are always going to be days where you don’t want to do anything for whatever the reason. I think it would be a hindrance to the idea of making schools better because it’s going to always be there and you really can’t fix it unless you make every teacher and every student have something they would be willing to teach or study for, not a test but something good.
I've always known that a large amount of slacking done in schools is also by teachers, but seeing this just confirmed my ideas and gives me a ton of motivation for my own time learning here at URI and for becoming a teacher later on. I ended my time being a player of the school game my senior year, and I didn't really start it until I was a sophomore, so I wasn't bad for too long. But now I realize that not only do I need to crack down on myself as a student, but as a teacher. While in the beginning of every school year it was nice to hear that a teacher would be easygoing and lazy, by the end of the year, I always hated him/her for wasting my time and energy and not giving me anything in return. I know now that if I want to make my life about educating others, I'm going to do it right.
I know I went through motions of work in high school and with the knowledge of knowing that it was only surface learning and I wasn't getting anything out of it. I also know I used the same strategies in some classes in college such as in calculus. This game is being played in most schools and to eliminate it will be a challenge for schools across America. classes need to be taught in a way that kids to think for themselves and contribute to activities in class that encourages kids to ask questions and not simply observe how something is done and mimic it.
- How did the GOS influence your own view of school and learning in high school?
- How are these views affecting your approach to being a student at URI?
- What role do you think the GOS play in efforts to improve schools?
Some indicators that the Game of School is being played are that students collaborate in doing homework and rarely do it themselves, teachers spend more time on homework and quizzes than on the basis of learning, and teachers pretend they don't know students share their work unless its very obvious. The GOS had a large influence on my learning in high school. I collaborated with other students on numerous assignments, especially ones that were lengthy or had to do with math. I viewed homework as not a way of learning but as a time consuming obstacle. Most work I did to get a good grade, but only grasped some of the material that the work consisted of. The Game of School made me a surface learner, only doing work to pass and not grasping the material being taught. Being a student at URI is much different than the level of learning done in high school. I have done more work here than my entire junior and senior year. I cannot simply get As on homework and then get Cs on tests if I want to maintain my GPA here. I think the GOS should be an example of how to change the school system for the better. It shows how we need to focus more on in class learning and less on homework.What are the key indicators that the Game of School is being played?